


I Don't Feel So Well

by Summerwolf



Series: Whumptober 2020 [21]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Chronic Pain, Gen, Hurt Peter, Hurt Peter Parker, Peter Makes Bad Life Choices, Peter Parker Needs a Hug, Peter Parker Whump, Peter Parker is a Mess, Peter has chronic pain, Precious Peter Parker, Protective Tony Stark, Tony Stark Acting as Peter Parker's Parental Figure, Tony Stark Has A Heart, Tony Stark Is a Good Bro, Whumptober 2020, good dad tony
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-21
Updated: 2020-10-21
Packaged: 2021-03-09 04:33:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,170
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27138044
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Summerwolf/pseuds/Summerwolf
Summary: Whumptober day 21 - Chronic Pain.---Peter had chronic pain. He’d had it for as long as he could remember, had probably got it in the car crash which killed his parents, even though no one had been aware of it until he was a little bit older. For a while he’d actually thought that he lived in a normal level of pain, like everyone was constantly in pain and his wasn’t any worse than anyone else’s, but then a talk to May and a doctor's appointment later, and he was diagnosed with chronic pain.Some days it wasn’t too bad. It was there, constantly in the background, but he could at least mainly ignore it. He could get on with his life, swing around Queens and save people and love his life. He could act like a normal person, like pain wasn’t infecting his every movement.
Relationships: Peter Parker & Tony Stark
Series: Whumptober 2020 [21]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1946926
Comments: 8
Kudos: 144
Collections: Whumptober 2020





	I Don't Feel So Well

Peter had chronic pain. He’d had it for as long as he could remember, had probably got it in the car crash which killed his parents, even though no one had been aware of it until he was a little bit older. For a while he’d actually thought that he lived in a normal level of pain, like everyone was constantly in pain and his wasn’t any worse than anyone else’s, but then a talk to May and a doctor's appointment later, and he was diagnosed with chronic pain.

Some days it wasn’t too bad. It was there, constantly in the background, but he could at least mainly ignore it. He could get on with his life, swing around Queens and save people and love his life. He could act like a normal person, like pain wasn’t infecting his every movement.

But then some days everything was so much worse. Some days the pain made him want to cry. Some days it was so bad he couldn’t even pull himself out of bed, never mind go out onto the streets and save people. It was days like that - the really worst versions of them - that he had to get May to call him in sick, and had to ask Ned or MJ to get him the notes from his missed lessons. He did his best to avoid talking about it, not wanting random people's pity, but sometimes it was impossible to hide. Constant pain was like that sometimes.

It was just after one of the worst days when Mr Stark invited him to the Avenger's tower to work in the labs together. He could have said no, claimed he was busy, anything, but he was getting tired of staying inside all day, and the pain was starting to get slightly better, and even though he knew it was an awful idea, he agreed.

He climbed into his suit and slowly made his way to the tower, doing his best not to swing too fast so that he didn't accidently make his pain ten times worse. As it was moving this much was hurting, and he knew that it would only get worse before he managed to make it to his destination.

"Ouch," he hissed, after a particularly jolty swing resulted in burning pain flying down both his arms. He had no idea why he'd ever thought this was a good idea, he should have known better by now than to go swinging when he knew his pain was at less than ideal levels, and yet here he was anyway, swinging, and regretting every moment of it.

"Peter? Do I need to call Tony?" Karen's concerned voice filtered through his mask, Peter's cry of pain enough to wake her up without Peter having to say anything.

"No, it's fine," Peter assured her, though he wasn't sure how successful he was, "I just swung slightly weirdly, nothing more than that."

"Peter, the scan I just completed suggests more than just a bit of a bad swing. I don't think you can safely get to SI on your own." Peter suddenly realised where she was going with this and tried to interrupt her, tried to find a way to get her to stop, but she wouldn't be deterred. "Calling My Stark."

"Damn it Karen," Peter hissed in annoyance. He understood she was probably right, at the rate he was going it would take him all night to get to SI, and he'd be exhausted by then too, but he'd been keeping all this a secret from Tony for a reason, and he hated the fact that if Tony came to him he wouldn't be able to hide it anymore.

"Kid? Are you okay?" Tiny asked, slight fondness and amusement in his tone which wta enough to let Peter know he had heard Peter's earlier comment about Karen.

"I'm fine," he sighed, "Karen was just being Karen and decided to call you."

"False," Karen interrupted, and for some reason Peter hadn't even realised she could join in Peter's calls. "I called Mr Stark because you seemed to be experiencing higher levels of pain than usual, and moving at a slower pace, and I worried you wouldn't make it to SI alone."

"That true kid?" Tony asked once Karen finished talking and overwhelming silence had filled their call.

"Possibly." Peter didn't mean to sound like some kind of annoyed two year old, but he'd been hiding this for years, and he was stubborn, and annoyed at himself for ever thinking this was a good idea.

"Alright, stay where you are, I'm coming to get you."

\---

It only took Tony ten minutes to get to Peter, ten minutes which Peter spent breathing deeply and praying to anything that would listen for the pain to hold off for a bit longer. He could feel it getting worse, knew he'd just signed himself up for another one of the worst days, maybe another couple, and all he could hope was that it wouldn't get too bad until he could get home.

"Hey Underoos? Are you doing okay?" Tony asked, his brow furrowed in concern just like Peter was sure his was furrowed in pain. "You're not looking too good."

"Thanks," Peter gritted out, "and there I was thinking that red was my colour." It was mainly a joke, Peter trying to deflect from his pain in the hope that Tony would move on, maybe take him to the labs at SI or even better, just take him straight home.

"What happened kid?" Tony asked, his eyes clearly searching Peter's body for any injuries. "Where do you hurt?"

"Everywhere, all the time," Peter joked again, even if this one was actually true. He was too tired to lie, too tired to come up with any excuses, especially as the pain was just getting worse, waves of it making Peter gasp and hold his breath.

"What do you mean?"

"Ughhh, never thought I would tell you this," Peter muttered to himself, absentmindedly wondering why he'd ever thought he would be able to hide this from Tony. "I have chronic pain," he shrugged, trying to act like it was no big deal, "sometimes it's worse than other times."

"And right now is the closer to the worse times?" Tony guessed.

"Yeah pretty much." Peter sighed, trying to move and finding blinding pain rushing through him. "And I don't think I'm going to be able to get home."

"I'll help," Tony muttered, walking over to scoop Peter into the moderately uncomfortable arms of his iron man suit, cradling him close to his chest. "There isn't anything else I need to know is there? You don't secretly have a missing leg?"

Peter laughed weakly, "no, chronic pain is all."

"I'll take your word for it," Tony grinned, "now I think it's time for a little spider to curl up in bed with some pain killers."

Peter nodded silently, leaning his head against Tony's chest and waiting for him to start flying him home.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading!!!  
> Have an awesome week!!!


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